Cliff Hanger II Review for U
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:33 pmFirst let me say that I feel extremely fortunate to have won this pedal amongst some amazing stories in that group. You guys are awesome. And Cork's (Eyefly) story, had it come in before the selection, would surely have taken the prize. Reading back through all of those stories the other day really humbled me. Praise.....
Now on to my best effort to write up a review. Please understand that I'm not one of those guys that can put tone into words well, let alone those tonal nuances that really tickle me...how do you describe it???? So I'll do my best....
First impressions
wow...what a pedal! This is the highest gain pedal of the BJ distortion group I have (DRD, EGDM, Model H, ~BBOD).
Last night I went with the D'Pergo super-strat and the R9 (stock) through the Carr Mercury, and today the CS-40 is glowing bright (and shaking walls of course). Man I love the clarity of this pedal. That is what really stood out to me. Hi-gain crystal clear note definition amongst sparkling-nasty gain-on-11 overdrive. I A/B'd with each of my other BJ drives. I must honestly say that it well be interesting to see which wins out as my favorite between it and the DRD. The DRD has been my fav for well over a year, but I like this one THAT much.
Amongst the group, this pedal has its own waaay cool thing. But across that spectrum, in overall tone, it is closest to the EGDM (to me), but yet in no way does it feel or sound like an overlap. It is the clarity and hi-end, upper mids (I think) that put it most similar. It has gain and sustain, with awesome blooming, for days. If you like the sound of an amp pushed hard, you must try this pedal.
As far as the two guitars, that was another big thrill for me. I found that it was just as good with the LP or the strat, which is rarely the case (ear-to-ear cat-eatin' grin here). And the best part is that it seemed to be able to leverage the advantages of each of those instruments in their tonal way, as opposed to the same pedal on two different guitars (if that makes senes). With the LP it seemed to really grab the harmonics and bloom, and on the strat it put out the sparkle and "tubey" (as I've heard it described) sound that strats shine at around the 12th fret. (this was another very pleasant surprise) It gave me the best of what the Dumbly clone pedals give up there. (my base is the Zen, GSR, Ethos). Giving me that on the strat, with the deep-rock (gain/sustain) vibe on the LP is really trippin' my trigger.
I should also mention that the tone knob offers fantastic tone along it's whole range. It all sounded so good, it makes we wonder which point is most like the Daddy CH. You can get great, but different sounds, anywhere along its range. This makes it a very nice upgrade from its roots. It had a slight bit more noise-floor than any of the other pedals, but I think that would be expected from a pedal with this gain on tap, and I'd trade that any day for what can be be done with this pedal. The distortion knob goes from mild breakup to that screaming gain of endless sustain. It was very interesting working the volume knob. It would not go clean, but it held its sparkle and clarity all the waay down. It didn't get muddie or dull at all. In fact it went through to some awesome crunch and rock-and roll tones with only the volume knob. I liked keeping the pedal gain high and rolling the guitar volume knob for an amazingly pleasing array of drive range and awesome rock tones. I much preferred the gain range that way versus rolling the gain on the pedal. Man...you have to try one!! I'm still saying that this may replace my DRD as my fav BJ pedal!! REALLY!
So I need to play more with this and keep adding here as I do. I want to try it with some P-90s, and if there's other things you want to know about please let me know. I will also go read the original Cliff Hanger review to see if there is anything I should try to add in a comparative way to that. I'll keep posting updates as I dig deeper.
Now on to my best effort to write up a review. Please understand that I'm not one of those guys that can put tone into words well, let alone those tonal nuances that really tickle me...how do you describe it???? So I'll do my best....
First impressions
wow...what a pedal! This is the highest gain pedal of the BJ distortion group I have (DRD, EGDM, Model H, ~BBOD).Last night I went with the D'Pergo super-strat and the R9 (stock) through the Carr Mercury, and today the CS-40 is glowing bright (and shaking walls of course). Man I love the clarity of this pedal. That is what really stood out to me. Hi-gain crystal clear note definition amongst sparkling-nasty gain-on-11 overdrive. I A/B'd with each of my other BJ drives. I must honestly say that it well be interesting to see which wins out as my favorite between it and the DRD. The DRD has been my fav for well over a year, but I like this one THAT much.
Amongst the group, this pedal has its own waaay cool thing. But across that spectrum, in overall tone, it is closest to the EGDM (to me), but yet in no way does it feel or sound like an overlap. It is the clarity and hi-end, upper mids (I think) that put it most similar. It has gain and sustain, with awesome blooming, for days. If you like the sound of an amp pushed hard, you must try this pedal.
As far as the two guitars, that was another big thrill for me. I found that it was just as good with the LP or the strat, which is rarely the case (ear-to-ear cat-eatin' grin here). And the best part is that it seemed to be able to leverage the advantages of each of those instruments in their tonal way, as opposed to the same pedal on two different guitars (if that makes senes). With the LP it seemed to really grab the harmonics and bloom, and on the strat it put out the sparkle and "tubey" (as I've heard it described) sound that strats shine at around the 12th fret. (this was another very pleasant surprise) It gave me the best of what the Dumbly clone pedals give up there. (my base is the Zen, GSR, Ethos). Giving me that on the strat, with the deep-rock (gain/sustain) vibe on the LP is really trippin' my trigger.
I should also mention that the tone knob offers fantastic tone along it's whole range. It all sounded so good, it makes we wonder which point is most like the Daddy CH. You can get great, but different sounds, anywhere along its range. This makes it a very nice upgrade from its roots. It had a slight bit more noise-floor than any of the other pedals, but I think that would be expected from a pedal with this gain on tap, and I'd trade that any day for what can be be done with this pedal. The distortion knob goes from mild breakup to that screaming gain of endless sustain. It was very interesting working the volume knob. It would not go clean, but it held its sparkle and clarity all the waay down. It didn't get muddie or dull at all. In fact it went through to some awesome crunch and rock-and roll tones with only the volume knob. I liked keeping the pedal gain high and rolling the guitar volume knob for an amazingly pleasing array of drive range and awesome rock tones. I much preferred the gain range that way versus rolling the gain on the pedal. Man...you have to try one!! I'm still saying that this may replace my DRD as my fav BJ pedal!! REALLY!
So I need to play more with this and keep adding here as I do. I want to try it with some P-90s, and if there's other things you want to know about please let me know. I will also go read the original Cliff Hanger review to see if there is anything I should try to add in a comparative way to that. I'll keep posting updates as I dig deeper.
) ..........but it will be interesting to see how they stack up for you 